The Place of Research Officers in the County Assemblies: Factors that can help Research Officers spur quality work in the Committees of the County Assemblies

International Journal of Economics and Management Studies

© 2019 by SSRG - IJEMS Journal

Volume 6 Issue 6

Year of Publication : 2019

Authors : Nicolas KiboiMaghas , Leonard Momos Juma

10.14445/23939125/IJEMS-V6I6P104

How to Cite?

Nicolas KiboiMaghas , Leonard Momos Juma, "The Place of Research Officers in the County Assemblies: Factors that can help Research Officers spur quality work in the Committees of the County Assemblies," SSRG International Journal of Economics and Management Studies, vol. 6,  no. 6, pp. 23-27, 2019. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23939125/IJEMS-V6I6P104

Abstract:

In any democratic legislature Research Services are crucial components that enables the legislators make informed decisions so as not to remain static entities but keep developing in accordance with societal and technological advancements. In Kenya Devolved system of governance, County Assemblies transacts their businesses through Committee System, where most of the work is executed before being ratified by the County Assembly. The study looked at the place of Research officers in the Committee set ups and how their output can be further enhanced. The objective was to determine how the institutionalization of the functions and roles of research units, funding of research services units, adoption and use of new technology and the staffing level will help spur the quality of work coming out from the Committees of the County Assembly. The study adopted descriptive research design. The study was conducted in the County Assembly of Bungoma. The target population was purposively sampled comprising of 8 Committee Chairpersons, 8 Members of the County Assembly, 8 Departmental Heads and 8 Members of Staff. Primary data was collected using questionnaires and was analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. From this study, it was concluded that the institutionalization of research services and increased funding will positively affect the quality of business being churned out at the Committees level. The study recommends increased funding to aid in hiring of more staff at Research units across legislatures and deployment of modern technology to better improve research work at the legislature.

Keywords:

Research units, legislation, scrutiny, staff, Committee, technology, effectiveness

References:

[1] About CRS (n.d.). In Library of Congress. Retrieved February 26, 2019, from http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/about/
[2] Brudnick, I. A. (2011, April 12). The Congressional Research Service and the American Legislative Process. Retrieved February 21, 2019, from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33471.pdf
[3] Chi, K. S. (2000). Technology in State Legislatures: The Impact of Computer Use by Legislators on the Legislative Process. Lexingtone: Council of State Governors. Retrieved February 26, 2019, from http://www.csg.org/knowledgecenter/docs/Misc0012TechLegislatures.pdf
[4] Evans, G. L. (2017, January). Disruptive Technology and the Board: the Tip of the Iceberg. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
[5] Fitsilis, F. and V. Bayiokos (2017). Implementing structured public access to the legal reports on bills and law proposals of the Scientific Service of the Hellenic Parliament. Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 13(2), pp. 63-80.
[6] IPU (2008). Informing Democracy: Building Capacity to Meet Parliamentarians’ Information and Knowledge Needs. Geneva: IPU. Retrieved February 26,2019, from:http://www.ipu.org/PDF/publications/inform_dem_en.pdf
[7] Miller, R., et al. (2004). Parliamentary libraries, institutes and offices: The sources of parliamentary information. Washington, D.C: World Bank Institute. Retrieved 24 February 2019, fromhttp://siteresources.worldbank.org/PSGLP/Resources/ParliamentaryLibrariesInstitutesandOffices.pdf
[8] Missingham, R. (2011). Parliamentary library and research services in the 21st century: A Delphi study. IFLA journal, 37(1), pp.52-61.
[9] Oronje, R. N., Omariba, S., &Chumo, E. (2016, May 13). Struggles of Kenya Parliament staff in supporting MPs to use research evidence. In AFIDEP. Retrieved February 21, 2019, from https://www.afidep.org/struggles-kenya-parliament-staff-supporting-mps-useesearch-evidence/
[10] Papazoski, Z. (2013). Development of Parliamentary Research Services in Central Europe and the Western Balkans. Washington, D.C: National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. Retrieved 20 February 2019, fromhttps://www.ndi.org/sites/default/files/development-of-parliamentary-research-services-CEE.pdf
[11] Robinson, W. H. and Gastelum, R. (2012). Parliamentary Libraries and Research Services in Central and Eastern Europe. Building More Effective Legislatures. Berlin, Boston: K. G. Saur.
[12] Schefbeck, G. (2011). Electronic law-making support in between the «syntactical» and the «semantic» challenges to the normative system - The Austrian case. In: Geist, Brunschwig, Lachmayer, Schefbeck (Eds.) Structuring Legal Semantics. Bern: Weblaw, pp. 323-360.
[13] The parliamentary Research Services - Fact sheet No. 15 (2017). In Parliament of Kenya. Retrieved February 24, 2019, from http://www.parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2018-04/15_The_Parliamentary_Research_Services.pdf
[14] UN (2012). Information and Communication Technologies in Parliamentary Libraries. United Nations. Retrieved 11 February 2019, from https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/services-for-parliaments/publications/handbook-libraries.pdf